‘My ears got a workout like a Def Leppard gig!’
An unbelievable motoring event has stunned our Nick
Did I really witness 2500 people paying tribute to a piece of concrete, become fascinated by a pair of scissors and encounter the Beast of Turin during the most incredible motoring event I’ve ever attended? So much history was being made, re-enacted and celebrated here that I wouldn’t have flinched if Fangio had lifted his race-stained goggles and demanded directions to the ice cream van.
We were at what is now Brooklands Museum for the official re-opening of the finishing straight of the legendary race circuit, much of which had been hidden beneath a hanger built in 1940. Relocating the building unearthed the original concrete, and its pre-war patches, still serviceable with a bit of work.
This was 110 years to the day that Brooklands opened – though not the exact hour as those extravagant Edwardians had a jolly spiffing lunch first.
Benefactor Mrs Ethel Locke King had driven an Italia that day, so how fitting that a 1907 40hp example be the first car to cross the reclaimed concrete in 2017. Then came an hour and a half of truly stunning action when some 200 vehicles from veterans to aero-engined monsters paraded and were put through their paces on the not exactly millpond smooth finishing straight surface.
The heat seemed to rise as the cars got bigger – and noisier. A ghostly choir started singing the Sixties classic Concrete and Clay – hang on that was only in my sad head.
Legends one and all
So many legendary cars that had raced at Brooklands pre-war were there. Some of the veterans had even starred at an Old Crocks Day at the circuit in 1939.
Bugattis, Le Mans Bentleys and tiny MGS were all dwarfed by the ‘Beast of Turin,’ a Land Speed Record beater built by Fiat in 1911 that looks like a vast racer compressed to half its width and twice normal height after thundering down a narrow alleyway. Oh yes, and it has a 28.5-litre engine.
By the time this display was over I felt as if I had triple sunstroke and my ears had been given a noise workout unequalled since they attended a Def Leppard concert in Derby in 1982.
Brooklands’ Paul Stewart summed up the event beautifully: ‘It’s one of the most important days in the circuit’s history and an emotional occasion – something we don’t think could ever be repeated again.’ The revived finishing straight was officially opened by Lord March, whose grandfather, Freddie,
‘the black sheep of the family’ had raced at Brooklands in the Thirties. An official ribbon was cut. Needless to say the scissors used were not from Staples but the actual set from the launch of the Campbell Circuit at Brooklands in 1937. I dearly wanted to photograph and even make an incision in my notebook with these but they had been spirited off to a place of historic scissor sanctuary.
Incredible how so much motoring history surrounded us. Just imagine the effort it must have taken to get all those unique and priceless cars there, store them ready for the opening and co-ordinate them for action.
And what survivors. From so long ago, too. Where were some of these vehicles in say 1952? Who looked after them then? Thank goodness someone did. Now I am normally as spiritual as a Blackpool donkey and it may be the combination of boiling sunshine, exhaust fumes, wild engine noise and desirable scissors, but I really did feel that those pre-war Brooklands racing heroes were there with us, standing on the concrete – and raising their cocktail glasses in a heartfelt ‘Bravo!’
Nick Larkin has appeared in many classic car (and a few bus) publications since 1989. He joined
Practical Classics in 1996, and remains a regular contributor.